In view of ever increasing demand for zigzag sewing machines, it is desirable that such machines be intermittently driven, for example, to baste and accordingly to make intermittent stitches, in addition to the conventional function of producing ordinary continuous stitches.
It would be truly convenient if the basting operation could be carried out with a sewing machine instead of by hand. However, it is presently necessary for the operator to manually handle a conventional sewing machine to make intermittent stitches with one hand operating the stopping device and with the other hand holding and guiding the material to be sewn. It is, therefore very difficult to sew curved parts, and other parts of the material where precise and correct stitching is required. Moreover, in presently known sewing machines of this kind, the mechanism is rather complex and expensive, and the needle stopping position cannot be determined with a requisite degree of accuracy. Accordingly, such a mechanism will not be appropriate for use in household sewing machines.